Disentangling the meanings of two Cantonese evidential particles

2011 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 250-293 ◽  
Author(s):  
John C. Wakefield
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Discourse Markers ◽  
Minimal Pair ◽  
The Other ◽  
Discourse Context ◽  
Discourse Particles ◽  
Working Hypothesis ◽  
Acceptability Judgments ◽  
Final Particles

Some linguists have argued that sentence-final particles (SFPs) are only meaningful in relation to the content of the discourse. This is of course an empirical matter subject to investigation. Adopting a working hypothesis that SFPs have core meanings independent of the discourse context, this paper proposes definitions for two evidential SFPs in Cantonese with related meanings: lo1 and aa1maa3. The method for developing the SFPs’ definitions is adopted (with modifications) from Besemeres and Wierzbicka’s (2003) proposal for defining “discourse markers.” Corpus-based examples and constructed minimal-pair dialogues are used to demonstrate that the definitions succeed at accounting for all the contexts that allow one, the other, both, or neither of the SFPs to be used based on acceptability judgments from native-Cantonese speakers. In addition to furthering our understanding of the two SFPs under discussion, this paper provides empirical evidence in support of the idea that discourse particles have context-independent meanings.

Prosody of Ojibwe Discourse Markers

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sonja Frazier
Keyword(s):  
Great Lakes ◽  
Narrative Structure ◽  
Discourse Markers ◽  
Pitch Tracking ◽  
Discourse Particles ◽  
Global Coherence ◽  
Complex Picture ◽  
And Linguistics

Discourse markers (DMs) are optional, sequentially dependent sentence-initial items (Schiffrin, 1987) that are used to bracket units of talk (e.g. oh, well, because, y’know, now ). This research aims to better understand Ojibwe DMs which typically occur as the first or second element of a sentence (Fairbanks, 2016). The proposed analysis seeks to understand the prosody of Ojibwe DMs broadly and specifically their use in narrative structure. The data is drawn from Gakina Dibaajimowin Gwayakwaawan ( All Teachings are Correct ) by Nancy Jones, 2013. The analysis was done by using the programs Audacity and PRAAT to identify individual sentences and their pitch prominences. Through careful listening and pitch tracking, prosodic properties of DMs were found to indicate the following: DMs attract the most prominent pitch in the sentence. DMs are used by the speaker to attract the hearer’s attention; in this sense they are interactional (Franks-Job, 2006). DMs are used by the speaker to structure the narration; as such they interact with topic changes and emphasis (Lenk, 1998) This study creates a more complex picture of Ojibwe DMs and adds to our understanding of the language. References: Fairbanks, B. 2016. Ojibwe Discourse Markers. University of Nebraska Press. Franks-Job, B. 2006. A dynamic-interactional approach to discourse markers. In Approaches to discourse particles, K. Fischer (ed.) pp. 395–413. Amsterdam: Elsevier. Lenk, U. 1998. Discourse markers and global coherence in conversation. Journal of Pragmatics 30(2):246-257 Ogimaawigwaebiik [Nancy Jones] 2013. Gakina Dibaajimowin Gwayakwaawan. In Dibaajimowinaan; Anishinaabe Stories of Culture and respect ; Nigaanigiizhig [Jim Saint-Arnold] (ed.), Great Lakes Indian Fish & Wildlife Commission, 9-10. Raso, Tommaso. 1996. Prosodic constraints for discourse markers. Spoken Corpora and Linguistic Studies. In Spoken Corpora and Linguistics Studies , T. Raso & H. Mello (eds.) 411-467. Benjamins: Amsterdam. Schiffrin, D. 1987. Discourse Markers. doi: 10.1017/cbo9780511611841.

scholarly journals A systematic comparison and reliability analysis of formal measures of sentence acceptability

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven Langsford ◽  
Andrew T Hendrickson ◽  
Amy Perfors ◽  
Lauren Kennedy ◽  
Danielle Navarro
Keyword(s):  
High Reliability ◽  
Significant Degree ◽  
Response Styles ◽  
The Other ◽  
Likert Scales ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Acceptability Judgments ◽  
Test Retest Reliability ◽  
Item Effects ◽  
Do So

Understanding and measuring sentence acceptability is of fundamental importance for linguists, but although many measures for doing so have been developed, relatively little is known about some of their psychometric properties. In this paper we evaluate within- and between-participant test-retest reliability on a wide range of measures of sentence acceptability. Doing so allows us to estimate how much of the variability within each measure is due to factors including participant-level individual differences, sample size, response styles, and item effects. The measures examined include Likert scales, two versions of forced-choice judgments, magnitude estimation, and a novel measure based on Thurstonian approaches in psychophysics. We reproduce previous findings of high between-participant reliability within and across measures, and extend these results to a generally high reliability within individual items and individual people. Our results indicate that Likert scales and the Thurstonian approach produce the most stable and reliable acceptability measures and do so with smaller sample sizes than the other measures. Moreover, their agreement with each other suggests that the limitation of a discrete Likert scale does not impose a significant degree of structure on the resulting acceptability judgments.

Transfer Pricing and Location of Intangibles - Spillover and Tax Avoidance through Profit Shifting

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca Reineke ◽  
Katrin Weiskirchner-Merten
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Transfer Pricing ◽  
Home Bias ◽  
Tax Avoidance ◽  
Optimal Location ◽  
The Other ◽  
Profit Shifting ◽  
Tax Rate ◽  
Length Range ◽  
A Company

This study examines how spillovers affect a multinational company's choice of an intangible's location and the corresponding transfer price for using this intangible. Our model uses a company with a domestic division in a high-tax country and a foreign division in a low-tax country, where each division's activities generate spillovers on the other division's income. In contrast to previous studies, our analysis incorporates an intangible's optimal location when the company trades off tax minimization and efficient activities. By locating the intangible abroad, the company reduces its tax liability, whereas locating the intangible domestically yields more efficient domestic division activities. For a high spillover of the domestic division, the company locates the intangible domestically. Our model supports empirical evidence regarding intangibles' location that is interpreted as "home bias". Additionally, we show how variations in regulatory parameters-arm's length range and tax rate differential-affect the divisions' activities and the intangible's location.

Impact of Risk Assessment Models on Risk Factors

2018 ◽  
pp. 134-153
Author(s):  
K. Madhu Kishore Raghunath ◽  
S. L. Tulasi Devi ◽  
Chandra Sekhar Patro
Keyword(s):  
Risk Factors ◽  
Risk Assessment ◽  
Risk Management ◽  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
The Other ◽  
Risk Models ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Risk Assessment Models ◽  
General Business ◽  
The Given

World is vicinity full of opportunities given the amount of economic and non-economic transactions taking place every moment. With ubiquitous opportunities all around, businesses can assume inherent risk everywhere in one or the other way. In this chapter, the authors have deliberated the general business scenario to prove the given inferences. The readers will come across why the risk management is gaining so much gravity and across risk strategy of top business players. The chapter will bring into light the various risk factors in business and study the various risk assessment models present to fortify the negativity of these risk factors. Simultaneously, the authors will draw empirical evidence on the effectiveness, qualitative and quantitative risk models have on risk factors in public and private business organisations.

The Economic and Social Value of Financial Literacy

2021 ◽  
pp. 416-436
Author(s):  
José Manuel Sánchez Santos
Keyword(s):  
Social Welfare ◽  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
National Economy ◽  
Financial Literacy ◽  
Social Value ◽  
The Other ◽  
Financial Instability ◽  
Allocation Of Resources ◽  
Financial Decisions ◽  
The One

The main objective of this chapter is to provide new insights into the economic and social value that financial literacy has for individuals and societies. Financial literacy has implications that are relevant both at a micro (especially for households) and macro-level (for the financial system and for the national economy as a whole). On the one hand, a lack of financial literacy put households a risk from making sub-optimal financial decisions and prevent them to maximize their wellbeing. On the other hand, financial literacy favors a better allocation of resources, reduces the risks associated with episodes of financial instability, and therefore, contributes to the increase of social welfare. The analysis and the empirical evidence showing the benefits (costs) of financial literacy (illiteracy) allows to conclude that policymakers have a key role to play implementing initiatives aiming to improve financial literacy of the population at all stages of life.

scholarly journals The Milky Way: summary and outlook

1985 ◽  
Vol 106 ◽  
pp. 635-639
Author(s):  
Jeremiah P. Ostriker
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Milky Way ◽  
Oblate Spheroid ◽  
The Other ◽  
Human Thought ◽  
Conspicuous Feature ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Absorption Of Light ◽  
The Galaxy ◽  
The One

First let me review the historical discussions presented during our symposium: the papers by Paul, Gingerich, Hoskin and Smith. I was greatly impressed by the power of abstract human thought in its confrontation with resistant reality. On the one hand we see again and again extraordinary prescience, where abstract beliefs based on little or no empirical evidence–like the island-universe hypothesis–turn out to be, in their essentials, true. Clearly, we often know more than we know that we know. On the other hand, there are repeated instances of resistance to the most obvious truth due to ingrained beliefs. These may be termed conspiracies of silence. Van Rhijn and Shapley agreed about few things. But one of them was that there was no significant absorption of light in the Galaxy. Yet the most conspicuous feature of the night sky is the Milky Way, and the second most conspicuous feature is the dark rift through its middle. What looks to the most untutored eye like a “sandwich” was modeled as an oblate spheroid. These eminent scientists must have known about the rift, but somehow wished it away in their analyses. I find that very curious. Other examples from earlier times abound. We all know that the Crab supernova was seen from many parts of the globe but, though it was bright enough to be detected by the unaided eye in daylight, its existence was never–so far as we know–recorded in Europe. It did not fit in with the scheme of things, so it was not seen.

Carnival and Caucus: A Typology for Comparative Frontier History

1987 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 139-167
Author(s):  
Richard Hogan
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Statistical Analysis ◽  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Theoretical Basis ◽  
Democratic Governance ◽  
Local History ◽  
The Other ◽  
American Frontier ◽  
Research Traditions ◽  
Community Solidarity

As Dykstra and Silag (1985) have noted, the analysis of American frontier towns continues to yield a plethora of local histories that might provide an empirical basis for generalization, if a theoretical basis for comparative analysis might be offered. The development of a rigorous methodology for historiographie and statistical analysis has facilitated the accumulation of empirical evidence, but the analysis of local history has not advanced far beyond the initial debate regarding the basis for democratic governance (Taylor, 1956). Instead, two research traditions have developed—one seeking to identify the socio-cultural basis for community solidarity, the other focusing on the partisan struggles that shape democratic governance.

scholarly journals Spillover from marine reserves and the replenishment of fished stocks

2009 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
pp. 268-276 ◽  
Author(s):  
BENJAMIN S. HALPERN ◽  
SARAH E. LESTER ◽  
JULIE B. KELLNER
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Empirical Data ◽  
Marine Reserves ◽  
Marine Reserve ◽  
Population Models ◽  
The Other ◽  
Marine Resources ◽  
Common Phenomenon ◽  
Small Scales ◽  
Effective Conservation

SUMMARYNo-take marine reserves are widely recognized as an effective conservation tool for protecting marine resources. Despite considerable empirical evidence that abundance and biomass of fished species increase within marine reserve boundaries, the potential for reserves to provide fisheries and conservation benefits to adjacent waters remains heavily debated. This paper uses statistical and population models to evaluate published empirical data on adult spillover from marine reserves and shows that spillover is a common phenomenon for species that respond positively to reserve protection, but at relatively small scales, detectable on average up to 800 m from reserve boundaries. At these small scales, local fisheries around reserves were likely unsustainable in 12 of 14 cases without the reserve, and spillover partially or fully offsets losses in catch due to reserve closure in the other two cases. For reserves to play a role in sustaining and replenishing larger-scale fished stocks, networks of reserves may be necessary, but as few exist this is difficult to evaluate. The results suggest reserves can simultaneously meet conservation objectives and benefit local fisheries adjacent to their boundaries.

Bodily Resurrection and the Dialectic of Spirit and Matter

2005 ◽  
Vol 66 (4) ◽  
pp. 770-782 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph A. Bracken
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Natural Science ◽  
The Other ◽  
Eternal Life ◽  
Christian Belief ◽  
New Creation ◽  
Bodily Resurrection ◽  
The Moment ◽  
Philosophical Understanding

[Christian belief in bodily resurrection is implicitly challenged by contemporary natural science with its empirical evidence for the interdependence of mental and bodily functions and their effective cessation at the moment of death. The author argues that only a new philosophical understanding of the relation between spirit and matter in which neither is intelligible without the other can render the notion of resurrection rationally plausible to scientists and offer new possibilities to theologians for explaining both eternal life and the new creation predicted in Revelation 21:1.]

Unpacking the variable context of quotatives

2017 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 124-143 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Kern
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Decisive Role ◽  
Noun Phrases ◽  
Discourse Markers ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Other ◽  
Qualitative And Quantitative Analysis ◽  
Qualitative And Quantitative ◽  
Direct Quotation ◽  
The U.S

Abstract The present study analyzes the use of quotatives in Spanish among twenty-four Spanish-English bilinguals from Southern Arizona and assesses the possible influence of English contact in their use. Cameron (1998) defines the envelope of variation of quotatives in Spanish as verbs of direct report, bare-noun phrases, and null quotatives. This study identifies a fourth strategy of quotative discourse markers. A detailed qualitative and quantitative analysis of the linguistic conditioning of these four strategies of direct quotation according to content of the quote and grammatical person points to the fact that quotative discourse markers appear to be conditioned differently than the other three strategies, but contact with English does not play a decisive role in their use. These results contribute to our knowledge of Spanish in the United States and variation in quotative systems by expanding on Cameron’s (1998) study to explore the quotative system of the Spanish of the U.S. Southwest and adding an analysis of quotative discourse markers.

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